A WWE show in Nassau County, New York ended with an ugly confrontation between the company's Chief Content Officer and the defeated superstar in the night's Undisputed WWE Championship title match.
Saturday Night's Main Event concluded with Cody Rhodes successfully defending the belt by hitting Kevin Owens with a vicious Cross Rhodes onto a steel chair. Referee Charles Robinson recovered from a bump in time to count the pinfall but the action was only just getting started.
When the cameras stopped rolling on the live WWE broadcast, fans in attendance at the Nassau Coliseum witnessed Owens returning to the ring and attacking Rhodes before stealing the Winged Eagle version of the Undisputed WWE Championship belt.
The Canadian star used his Package Piledriver move - which has been banned by WWE for a number of years because of the injury risk associated with it.
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KO has used it twice in recent months, with Randy Orton on the receiving end of the move last month.
Check out the clip below.
As KO left the arena he was met at the top of the ramp by Triple H, WWE's Chief Content Officer and a 14-time WWE world champion. Fans nearby caught the fracas on camera as Owens and Triple H exchanged shoves before being broken up.
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The ongoing feud between Owens and Rhodes escalated in October when KO assaulted Rhodes as he prepared to face the media backstage after the Bad Blood event in Atlanta, Georgia. As the rivals argued behind the scenes at the State Farm Arena, Owens sucker-punched Rhodes and rained down blows as fans still in the venue filmed footage of the incident that would later be widely shared on social media.
On that occasion Triple H released a statement on X to address the backstage clash, a stunning off-stage heel turn by Owens that indicated WWE's innovative approach to social media virality in an age when TV is just the beginning of their content.
"We are aware of the incident outside of the arena last night between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens," read the terse update from The Game. "The matter will be dealt with internally."
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WWE embracing big moments that happen away from their main broadcasts is testament to its storytelling abilities in the modern media world. Fan footage from behind the scenes extends events beyond the broadcast and generates shareable footage that feels authentic and comes directly from real people bearing witness to backstage incidents they shouldn't be seeing, not to mention the headlines and discussion that follow.
We haven't seen the last of Triple H and Kevin Owens beefing, that's for sure.
Topics: WWE, Triple H, Cody Rhodes
Chris Nee